Ok, well I never noticed any sort of vibration or wobble before so I'll assume I'm ok there.

 

Dumb question, I have the torque specs for everything. But, which comes off and goes on first? Timing cover or pan?

 

pan comes off first. you can get the front cover off without damaging the pan gasket or the pan or cover by dropping the front of the pan

 

Alright. Could I go ahead and put rtv on all seals, or would it be best just for the cover and pan? I think I remember it saying the WP seals could take rtv on both sides of the gasket...?

 

You don't put RTV on the water pump or opti seals. The outer body part of the seal is a wedge fit into the cover, not gonna leak.
And you definitely don't put any RTV on the seal itself.

 

I'm to the point where I feel I want to punch a baby! Do I really need to drop or remove the cross over pipe to have enough room to remove the starter and drop the pan? The stupid bolt I was using to help remove the hub bent cuz it SUCKED, and now I'd rather throw some tnt under the hood....

 

Are your oil pan and timing chain cover gaskets leaking? If not, (speaking of babies) ever hear the saying "let sleeping babies lie"?

 

They all look like they're leaking a bit, after doing the intake manifold I began to notice more fluid on the cover and bottom. all the seals on the cover were wet and had some seepage it appeared and even the timing cover itself. It started out being just replace opti, now it looks like I have to do it all. Researched more and found out the starter can come off without dropping the crossover pipe.

I appreciate my vehicle more with all the work I do, but also I've grown to despise and loathe this LT1.

 

Mine had just a little over 100k miles when I had to change the opti. The rest of the gaskets and seals (oil pan, timing cover, crank) showed no sign of leaking, just lucky I guess. Since I hate opening cans o' worms, I decided to leave well enough alone.

 

Yea, it's all starting to look extremely difficult for me to do in the garage while only up on ramps. IDK how people can squeeze the pan gasket on from underneath without raising the motor, but if they can then I'm sure I can find a way. Just hard sneaking my hand around the motor still. I'll have to find a higher grade bolt to use on the hub I guess, it bent the heck out of the other one into an "S".

It's so messy that I'll have to spend a good amount of time wiping down underneath so the new pan gasket doesn't get filthy while moving it up. The front is literally caked still, I've sprayed it off with gunk a few times but still needs more.